Focus: Secession Candidates
by Brad Dickson

Nostalgia I recently decided to check out the “new and improved” Hollywood Boulevard now that it has undergone a complete renovation and image makeover. I deliberately waited till all the “riff-raff” and “sleaze” was out of area—but enough about the people who attended the Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre.

After parking my car just off Hollywood Boulevard not far from the Roosevelt Hotel I set the alarm, hooked up the Club, and checked to make sure my “Lojac” card was in my wallet. Image makeover or not, it’s still Hollywood.

Walking east on the Boulevard instead of the prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, porn stores and panhandlers of the Hollywood Boulevard circa 1999, I instead encountered tourists, a performing mime and pushy guys handing out passes to movie premieres. They call this progress? Trading prostitutes for tourists and panhandlers for movie premiere dudes seems like a wash, but I’ll take a good old-fashioned pimp over a mime any day.

I continued walking passing the tourists, many of whom were wearing t-shirts with clever slogans like “I’m With Stupid.” But not one hooker or drug dealer. Which struck me as wrong. Hollywood without hookers or drug dealers is like San Francisco without the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s like New York without the Statue of Liberty. It’s like France without rude, hairy people who don’t go to the dentist.

I continued walking past a restaurant with a grade C posted in the window, which for my money pretty much means squirrels in the soup. At least it was a remnant of the old Hollywood. I continued, stepping on the procession of stars from yesteryear toward the crown jewel of the “new Hollywood,” the brand new Hollywood and Highland mall. Which actually isn’t a mall at all, just a big, mostly empty clearing room for lots of stores someday.

I sadly began traipsing back to my car, past the t-shirt shops and fast food outlets, disillusioned by the “new and improved” Hollywood Boulevard, which is actually just like the Glendale Galleria only with English-speaking people and even worse parking.

Of course it’s not half as disappointing for me as it must be for the tourists who linger on the Boulevard, convinced if they just stay long enough they’re going to see Jack Nicholson drop into the souvenir shop with the Christmas lights out front to pick up a 40 buck “I Love L.A.” ashtray, or see De Niro drop off his laundry at the dry cleaner with the sign written in Armenian. At least when there were hookers and porn stores on the Boulevard you might occasionally catch a glimpse of a Hugh Grant or an Eddie Murphy. Now celebrities have no reason to come to Hollywood.

Camelot As you probably heard, there’s a campaign to have the San Fernando Valley secede from the rest of Los Angeles. Someone’s already taken a poll to select a name for the new city. Which is typical L.A., nobody knows if it’ll happen but we gotta have the name ready.

They released the top ten names according to the poll, mostly predictable stuff like “Rolling Hills” and, simply, “The Valley.” But one name, the second most popular according to the poll, sticks out—“Camelot.”

Now, don’t people poke enough fun at the Valley without calling it Camelot? Even in this place, the outlet mall/strip club/karaoke bar/check cashing store/pornographic movie capital of the world, this is an embarrassing name.

Camelot represents something idyllic, something beautiful. There are much more appropriate names for the Valley. Like, maybe, “Little Armenia.” Or how about “Pornville”? Maybe “Land of a Thousand Area Codes.” Or, to drive up property values, “North Bel-Air”?

How did Camelot finish as the second most popular choice? Maybe those polled misunderstood the question. If it was a written poll, that may’ve happened. When you grow up in a place like the San Fernando Valley, where half the billboards are in Spanish, you may not understand English so well. Or maybe it was a phone poll, and nobody could understand the question because their Verizon cell phones kept cutting out.

On the list of new names for the Valley, my home, I’d have to rank Camelot, oh, about 2 billionth place on the list, right after “Crap Town” and “Flake Falls.”

Since the name Camelot did so well in the poll maybe we don’t deserve to secede, maybe we’re not ready for independence. Perhaps we need to remain part of L.A. Possibly this is too big of a leap. The people who took the poll need to go back to the drawing board and come up with something better than Camelot if they want my support. If they want a name from a work of fiction, with El Nino supposedly returning next year, how about “Atlantis”?

The (Trade) Show Must Go On
ActorFest offers actors a day of information, shopping, and, yes, schmoozing.
by Rob Kendt
Editor in Chief/Associate Publisher: Back Stage West

Los Angeles is host to many trade shows and expositions, in which professionals from the plumbing industry or the book trade or car dealerships gather over a weekend at the L.A. Convention Center or a swank hotel to network, share wares, shop, and generally stay in the loop with the latest developments and trends in their line of work.

Where, you may ask, is the trade show for L.A.’s most famously populous profession - the ranks of which are continually replenished by newcomers from all over the country? I’m talking, of course, about actors. To the tens of thousands of members of the professional actors’ unions who reside in the Greater Los Angeles area, add several tens of thousands more who are out pounding the pavement, honing their craft, hoping for a break. It’s no exaggeration to say that, in the sheer number of people who either work as or consider themselves actors, L.A. is the undisputed world capital.

So where’s the trade show worthy of this professional capital? ActorFest, now in its 8th year, is the answer, and it comes directly from the offices and pages of Back Stage West, the L.A. actors’ trade paper. Scheduled for Saturday, May 11, 9am-4pm at the Hilton Universal City & Towers, this year’s ActorFest promises our best lineup yet of industry professionals, from seasoned actors to agents and casting directors, as well as a bustling exhibit floor of the latest in actor services, from headshot photographers to acting schools, from resource guides to mailing labels. The one-stop shopping on the exhibit floor is free, while the price for an all-day pass, which gives access to 2 seminars, is $40.

Since we started ActorFest in 1995 at the cozy, nostalgic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, I’ve thought of it as “living newspaper.” Indeed, each element of the show is essentially a live, interactive version of our print product: As Editor in Chief, I help to assemble seminars and panels that mirror the career-oriented features we publish each week, with our industry sources and contacts right there in person, discussing their business and taking questions directly from attendees. Meanwhile, Back Stage West’s tireless advertising department assembles a bustling exhibit floor of such actor-related services as headshot photographers, acting schools and coaches, video demo editors, actors’ unions, and other resources, so that actors can comparison-shop and gather leads.

And, of course, the attendees are our readers - except that ActorFest gives them the chance to interact with our industry sources and advertisers, with our staff, and with each other, to get all their questions answered and their voices heard.

We’re Covered The career seminars I help put together are the live equivalent of big feature articles on the kinds of topics we regularly cover in Back Stage West. As our cover stories are often in-depth interviews with successful actors about their craft and business, so we offer a keynote conversation with a well-known actor about the strategies and lessons of their high-profile career path. Past keynote panelists have included Robert Forster (who offered a memorable rendition of a “hambone” number) and Dylan McDermott. This year, we’re sitting down to talk to Amy Brenneman, who has a fascinating story: Her diverse and successful acting career began in the mid-1980s, in a blue van with a bunch of her college pals, touring the U.S. as Cornerstone Theater Company and staging plays in out-of-the-way rural communities, and has since led her through a variety of television projects and feature films to her current stint as executive producer and star of the hit CBS series Judging Amy.

“I am thrilled to be part of this event,” Brenneman told me recently. “One of the greatest opportunities for all of us in the field is for meaningful collaboration and community participation. I am anxious to share what I’ve learned and to learn from others.”

Another element of Back Stage West editorial-cutting-edge coverage of the latest industry trade trends as they impact the livelihood of actors - is reflected in a seminar called “Perform Inc.,” a panel composed of agents and personal managers who will give an up-to-the-minute account of the rapidly changing business of talent representation. With the recent vote by members of the Screen Actors Guild regarding changes to their longstanding franchise agreement with talent agents, this will be a very timely discussion. And if anyone has his finger on the pulse of industry trends, it’s this panel’s moderator, Robert J. Dowling, Editor in Chief/Publisher of The Hollywood Reporter. Dowling and his panel of connected agents and managers will help spell out what these tectonic, industry-wide shifts may mean for average rank-and-file actors, whether they have representation or not.

Two other seminars I’m putting together promise to provide especially lively and frank talks. The first, “Building Character,” will gather a distinguished and successful troupe of “character actors” - a term with a loose definition, and, in the film/TV industry, a sometimes dismissive connotation - on how they’ve built thriving careers through hard work, perseverance, and sheer talent. These include such seasoned actor’s actors as Mindy Sterling (longtime Groundling actor/director, best known as Frau Farbissina in the Austin Powers films), R. Lee Ermey (the hard-nosed drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket, whose credits also include Dead Man Walking and the upcoming Willard), and Patricia Belcher (best known as the psychic in Jeepers Creepers).

The other panel, “Advanced Stages,” shines a spotlight on L.A.’s vibrant, often-overlooked theatre scene, to which actors and artists who make their living doing film and TV work return regularly to fuel their craft. How do they pull it off? We’ll find out from such busy actors as Kevin Weisman (the gadget nerd Marshall on Alias, currently also in the Buffalo Nights Theatre Company’s JB at the Powerhouse Theatre in Santa Monica), Julia Campbell (best known for her starring role in the miniseries Rose Red and for her work at the Matrix and Cast theatres), Andrew Robinson (a busy TV actor who directs at the Matrix as well as at local regional thetares), Juanita Jennings (another busy TV actor with extensive regional theatre credits), and two of L.A.’s preeminent theatre artistic director/producers, Gil Cates of the Geffen Playhouse (a longtime producer of the Oscar show) and Sheldon Epps of the Pasadena Playhouse (who also moonlights as a TV director).

Casting About Of course, the main reason actors read Back Stage West and visit our popular website, BackStage.com, is for the extensive weekly and daily casting information. In addition, writer Bonnie Gillespie contributes a popular weekly column, “Casting Qs,” in which she interviews casting directors about their approach to casting, what they look for in actors, and their specific practical advice for actors who want to get in the door.

So it’s no surprise that among ActorFest’s most popular features are our 28 “Focus Sessions,” in which top casting directors from feature films, episodic and daytime television, and commercials offer 50-minute informational Q&A sessions with relatively small groups of actors. For most actors, there’s just no substitute for hearing directly from casting directors exactly how they do their job of finding the best actor for the part - and how to improve their chances of being that actor.

Finally, for we who toil at our desks to get the best information out to our readers, and usually don’t expect a response unless there’s an error, ActorFest is a day to come face to face with the people we serve. And that day of direct interaction, in a business that’s all about networking and human contact, is invaluable and gratifying - not to mention just plain fun. After all, we put “fest” in the name for a reason.

Back Stage West presents ActorFest 2002, Sat. May 11, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at Hilton Universal City & Towers 555 Universal Terrace Parkway. Free access to exhibit floor; all-day pass is $40, includes one Focus Session and one career seminar. Sponsored by the AFTRA/SAG Federal Credit Union.